Better known for its air transport and military products, Canada’s CMC Electronics (booth 1014) is here to emphasise its growing credentials as a supplier to business aviation.
The Montreal-based company is showing an electronic flight bag (EFB) and an Inmarsat satcoms antenna designed to appeal to corporate operators. Earlier today at the show CMC sealed a deal covering distribution of its entry-level enhanced vision system (EVS) infrared sensor in the corporate and general aviation sectors.
CMC’s PilotView EFB was selected as a factory option on the Pilatus PC-12 business turboprop last year and is being made available on current types in the Dassault Falcon range. “Our aim is very high reliability at affordable prices,” says commercial aviation vice-president Bruce Bailey. “These selections are a tremendous vote of confidence by two major business aviation players.”
Development of the SatLite compact Inmarsat antenna, introduced to the business aviation world at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando last year, is on track, Bailey says. “We are now entering the Inmarsat access-approval process and expect to be certificated by midsummer.”
SatLite was designed to conform to the new Arinc 781 standard for lightweight L-band satcoms and is being aimed initially at air transport operators – Japan Airlines has selected the system for its Boeing 737 fleet. “But we are also promoting SatLite directly to business aviation,” says Bailey. “It’s spot-on for the Airbus and Boeing VIP and corporate aircraft. We currently ship a lot of our original CMA-2102 Inmarsat antennas to Boeing Business Jets, and we have some on Airbuses as well. I believe SatLite will very quickly gain traction in that sector.”
CMC also hopes to attract operators of the high-end dedicated business jets.
“There was no technical reason why the CMA-2102 couldn’t have been mounted on a Gulfstream or a Bombardier,” Bailey explains. “The basic issue was aesthetic - putting a large bump on the fuselage of a beautiful aircraft was never going to be a popular thing to do.”
The solution until now has been fintop installation of a mechanically steered antenna. Like CMA-2102, SatLite is an electronically steered phased array, but it is significantly smaller, lighter and lower in profile. “As a result, it’s very suitable for many of the aircraft types on show here,” says Bailey.
CMC makes two infrared sensors for use in enhanced vision systems: the high-end SureSight I-series cooled system, offering exceptionally good visual resolution, and the uncooled M-series.
Tomorrow at the show CMC will sign an agreement under which Universal Avionics (booth 1112) will distribute and support M-series among its large corporate and general aviation customer base. “Universal will have exclusive rights to sell M-series to its customers,” says Bailey. “For us it’s a very valuable tie-up with a company that traditionally has had much more focus on business aviation than we have.”
CMC is also pushing the virtues of the more complex and expensive I-series. “Installing I-series gives an operator landing credits he wouldn’t otherwise have,” Bailey says. “Approaching in poor visibility, with I-series aboard, he is allowed by US Federal Aviation Administration rules to proceed beyond the Category 1 decision height of 200ft [60m] to the Category 2 level of 100ft. That’s a huge advantage from an operational efficiency perspective.”
The company has another approach and landing aid on show in the form of its IntegriFlight GPS wide area augmentation system (WAAS) receiver. “This is part of our fourth generation of GPS products,” says Bailey. “Working with the satellite-based WAAS, IntegriFlight will yield a tremendous increase in navigational accuracy following certification later this year.”
The Montreal-based company is showing an electronic flight bag (EFB) and an Inmarsat satcoms antenna designed to appeal to corporate operators. Earlier today at the show CMC sealed a deal covering distribution of its entry-level enhanced vision system (EVS) infrared sensor in the corporate and general aviation sectors.
CMC’s PilotView EFB was selected as a factory option on the Pilatus PC-12 business turboprop last year and is being made available on current types in the Dassault Falcon range. “Our aim is very high reliability at affordable prices,” says commercial aviation vice-president Bruce Bailey. “These selections are a tremendous vote of confidence by two major business aviation players.”
Development of the SatLite compact Inmarsat antenna, introduced to the business aviation world at the National Business Aviation Association convention in Orlando last year, is on track, Bailey says. “We are now entering the Inmarsat access-approval process and expect to be certificated by midsummer.”
SatLite was designed to conform to the new Arinc 781 standard for lightweight L-band satcoms and is being aimed initially at air transport operators – Japan Airlines has selected the system for its Boeing 737 fleet. “But we are also promoting SatLite directly to business aviation,” says Bailey. “It’s spot-on for the Airbus and Boeing VIP and corporate aircraft. We currently ship a lot of our original CMA-2102 Inmarsat antennas to Boeing Business Jets, and we have some on Airbuses as well. I believe SatLite will very quickly gain traction in that sector.”
CMC also hopes to attract operators of the high-end dedicated business jets.
“There was no technical reason why the CMA-2102 couldn’t have been mounted on a Gulfstream or a Bombardier,” Bailey explains. “The basic issue was aesthetic - putting a large bump on the fuselage of a beautiful aircraft was never going to be a popular thing to do.”
The solution until now has been fintop installation of a mechanically steered antenna. Like CMA-2102, SatLite is an electronically steered phased array, but it is significantly smaller, lighter and lower in profile. “As a result, it’s very suitable for many of the aircraft types on show here,” says Bailey.
CMC makes two infrared sensors for use in enhanced vision systems: the high-end SureSight I-series cooled system, offering exceptionally good visual resolution, and the uncooled M-series.
Tomorrow at the show CMC will sign an agreement under which Universal Avionics (booth 1112) will distribute and support M-series among its large corporate and general aviation customer base. “Universal will have exclusive rights to sell M-series to its customers,” says Bailey. “For us it’s a very valuable tie-up with a company that traditionally has had much more focus on business aviation than we have.”
CMC is also pushing the virtues of the more complex and expensive I-series. “Installing I-series gives an operator landing credits he wouldn’t otherwise have,” Bailey says. “Approaching in poor visibility, with I-series aboard, he is allowed by US Federal Aviation Administration rules to proceed beyond the Category 1 decision height of 200ft [60m] to the Category 2 level of 100ft. That’s a huge advantage from an operational efficiency perspective.”
The company has another approach and landing aid on show in the form of its IntegriFlight GPS wide area augmentation system (WAAS) receiver. “This is part of our fourth generation of GPS products,” says Bailey. “Working with the satellite-based WAAS, IntegriFlight will yield a tremendous increase in navigational accuracy following certification later this year.”
Source: Flight Daily News